Northbound Pilgrimage II

Chapter XX - Trust

"Did the Nord manage to get their numbers?"

The Khajiit sitting across him questioned him further while she scribbled everything down on a parchment. She didn't even look up at him.

Bishop had returned from his investigative mission only an hour ago and the contact, the Khajiit woman, already interrogated him for all the possible details on Jaree-Ra's current operations and plans. At first Bishop was pretty uncomfortable with discussing this right in the common room of the Four Shields tavern, but the Khajiit had insisted. Apparently it was important for her cover. She'd been monitoring the situation in Haafingar by pretending to be some author, gathering travelers' stories. She'd basically been questioning everyone who passed through Dragon Bridge under those pretenses. The assumption was that anyone running an operation outside of Solitude to avoid Karliah would generally resupply basic necessities in the village. The Khajiit then ensured that she knew about everything and everyone that happened upon the small community there. It was rather effective, since it led them to Jaree'Ra's new hideout. And now she pretended to pester Bishop in the same way.

As uncomfortable as he was with discussing this there, the woman seemed to know what she was doing – no one paid any attention to them since they were all used to her interest in strangers and the tavern was overcrowded with the residents of a nearby soldier outpost. Even if someone wanted to listen in on them, they would have a hard time doing it subtly due to the noise in that place.

In any case, he had much less to report than he had expected. The operation barely deserved to be called that way. It was more like a smuggler refuge. Bishop was pretty sure that there were more impressive business deals going on behind every inn's counter. But at least that made the mission easy. Nobody there even expected to be investigated by an invisible infiltrator and he hardly had need of the backup force. Now it was up to Karliah to decide what to do with the smugglers.

"There were exactly eleven of them," Bishop rolled his eyes at the woman. This interrogation was getting tiresome. He wasn't supposed to let his presence be known at all, meaning he couldn't steal any documents or logs. He had to relay everything that he had found. It was annoying. Especially since he had other things on his mind.

"Any full records of the members? Some may have been out of the hideout then," the Khajiit pondered.

"It's a group of thugs and smugglers, not fucking military," Bishop scowled at her. Who the fuck would keep a record of all the people joined in a smuggler ring? Well... that was probably a stupid question. He knew who would. Karliah would.

"Khajiit finds the Nord too cranky. Have another drink," she smirked at him and snapped her fingers in the direction of the bar. The innkeeper only nodded absentmindedly in response.

Well... it was not like he would say 'no' to a drink.

He still couldn't stop thinking about his encounter with Casavir. He kept going over everything – over what he actually knew about what happened to Elisie, over what happened during Aeyrin's poisoning in Solitude and over everything the paladin said to him after the dragon battle.

He couldn't help but feel like... maybe Casavir wasn't exactly lying.

Maybe.

He was still a fucking asshole! He was the one to drive Elisie away with his talk. That fucking tin-head took away the only actual family that could have been worth a damn to Bishop! It was not like these little details made him into the saint that he pretended to be.

But... maybe he didn't actually poison Aeyrin.

It would have hardly mattered at this point, if it wasn't for the issue of the real culprit. He couldn't fathom who could have done this, but he knew that there was a chance that it could have been Azshan. If Bishop was supposed to be framed, it would have made sense that Azshan would actually provide him with a way to get inside the Castle.